Wanton killings by the dreaded Fulani herdsmen is not something new in the North Central part of Nigeria. In fact, Kogi has not been spared of this sad development. However, the renewed killing of scores of innocent people at a time when the state’s Chief Security officer had moved to establish the unpopular cattle grazing colony calls for concerns and prompt action.
Oganienugwu and Ikende communities in Dekina LGA and Abejukolo in Omala LGA all in the the Eastern Senatorial District of the state are the latest field test for these mindless killings.
Consequent upon this heart wrenching reality, Dr. Arome, a Development Economist and governorship aspirant for Kogi State having received with shock the news of this new wave of killing that has just been visited on the people by suspected herdsmen is deeply saddened that Kogi has become a part of this statistics.
These unprovoked killings are as shocking as they connote a dreadful reality of the state’s security architecture which experts and leaders of thought had earlier warned of.
The gruesome murder of our dear ones is a climax of bad governance which our people have had to put up with for some time now.
The public will recall that an unregulated influx of herdsmen into Kogi probably buoyed by the grazing colony policy of Gov Yahaya Bello may have supplied them with the impetus to perpetrate this heinous act.
The state government’s decision is even more shocking considering the volume of fear, destruction of farmland and other means of livelihood and death that Herdsmen have been suspected of visiting on many parts of the country.
To this end, Dr. Arome Salifu makes the following calls as a matter of urgency and emergency:
1. Immediate repeal of Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi state’s policy on grazing colony. The idea as noted by the good people of Kogi state is hasty, ill-conceived and a recipe for pain and death on our already impoverished people.
2. Immediate deployment of police and other security agencies to the Flashpoints of the state to forestall escalation and/or further killings by the mindless elements.
3. Immediate deployment of medical experts to treat the wounded, and therapists to counsel survivors who would have been disoriented by the unfortunate incident. And,
4. Finally that all sons and daughters of Kogi come together, put politics and other sentiments aside and deliberate on how to quickly get past this terrible reality that is facing us as citizens of the Confluence State.
Dr. Arome, while commiserating with the immediate victims of the carnage, assures of his readiness to stand by them and indeed every Kogite and ensure that their rights to life and to the dignity of their human persons are not sacrificed on the alter of political expediency.
– Oshaloto Joseph Tade
For: Dr. Arome Salifu Support Organization.
